What AI does Shopify use? A complete overview for 2025

There’s a lot of noise about AI in ecommerce. If you’re running a Shopify store, you’re probably asking yourself, "What AI can I actually use, and how does it help my business grow?" It’s the right question to ask, because while AI sounds great, figuring out how to use it effectively can feel a little fuzzy.

This guide is here to clear things up. We’ll look at the AI tools Shopify has built-in, dive into the huge world of third-party apps, and talk about how you can create a unified AI strategy that saves you time, money, and makes your customer support a whole lot better.

What AI does Shopify use?

When you peel back the layers, Shopify’s AI isn’t just one thing. It’s really split into two main camps that merchants can tap into.

First up, you have Shopify’s built-in AI tools. These are features like Shopify Magic and Sidekick that come baked right into the platform. Think of them as your starter kit. They’re designed to help with everyday store management and content creation without you having to install anything extra.

Then there’s the third-party AI app ecosystem. This is where things get really interesting. Outside of its native tools, Shopify’s real AI muscle comes from its massive App Store. Thousands of developers offer specialized AI apps for just about everything, from personalized marketing to fully automated customer support. This creates a ton of possibilities, but it can also get messy and disconnected if you’re not careful.

A deep dive into Shopify’s native AI tools

Let’s start with what Shopify gives you right out of the box. These native tools are a decent introduction to what AI can do for your store, but it’s just as important to understand their limits, especially as your support load starts to climb.

Shopify Magic: A key part of Shopify’s AI strategy

Shopify Magic is a set of free, AI-powered features that every merchant can access, no matter their plan. It’s meant to be a handy assistant for whipping up the text and images for your store.

It’s most commonly used for text generation. You can use it to get a first draft of a product description, a catchy email subject line, or a blog post. It also has some neat media editing tricks, like swapping out a product photo’s background for a clean, professional look. And within Shopify Inbox, it can suggest replies to common questions, helping you flesh out your chat support.

But here’s the catch: Shopify Magic doesn’t have the full story. It can’t look at your past support tickets from a helpdesk like Zendesk or Gorgias to learn your brand’s real voice or understand the problems customers actually run into. It also can’t check real-time order information to solve a customer’s issue on its own. It helps you write, but it doesn’t do the problem-solving.

Sidekick: The AI-powered commerce assistant

Sidekick is Shopify’s newer AI assistant that sits in your admin panel. It’s still in early access but shows a lot of promise for making store management less of a headache. The idea is that you can give it simple, conversational commands, and it gets the job done.

You can tell it things like, “Put all t-shirts on sale for 10% off,” and it will handle it. It can also pull quick reports if you ask, “What were my best-selling products last month?” or help you out if you’re stuck on a task like, “How do I set up a new shipping zone for Canada?”

This video demonstrates Shopify's built-in AI assistant, Sidekick, and how it helps merchants manage their stores without needing developers or complicated apps.

Sidekick is a cool tool, but its job is to help you, the merchant, run your business. It’s focused on internal store management. It doesn’t automate customer support tickets, sort incoming requests, or act as a 24/7 support agent that can handle customer questions. For that, you need a dedicated solution that connects directly to your support channels, which is where a platform like eesel AI comes into the picture.

The powerful but fragmented Shopify AI app ecosystem

Now for the other half of the answer to "what AI does Shopify use?". The Shopify App Store is loaded with powerful, specialized AI tools for almost any task you can think of. This is where you can start to seriously automate and fine-tune your business.

Common categories of AI apps on Shopify

Shopify merchants are using AI apps for all sorts of things, but most fall into a few key areas:

• Customer Service & Chatbots: Apps like Tidio provide AI chatbots that can field common customer questions and offer 24/7 support on your website.

• Marketing & Personalization: Tools like Klaviyo use AI to build personalized email and SMS campaigns, while apps from Wiser serve up AI-powered product recommendations to boost your average order value.

• SEO & Content: You’ll also find plenty of apps that go a step beyond Shopify Magic, helping you fine-tune your store’s SEO or manage a bigger content strategy.

But there’s a problem with this approach. Relying on a bunch of separate AI apps creates data silos. Your chatbot doesn’t learn from your email marketing. Your product recommendation tool has no clue what common problems your support team is wrestling with. The result is a choppy customer experience that feels impersonal and a bit clumsy.

You also get stuck paying several different subscription fees, which adds up fast. And your team ends up doing a ton of manual work trying to connect the dots between all these systems. A much better way is to use a single platform that can bring all of your company knowledge together. This is exactly what a tool like eesel AI is built to do.

How to unify your customer support strategy

Instead of juggling a handful of basic tools and disconnected apps, a unified platform is a smarter way to handle your customer support as you grow. This is how you stop just tinkering with AI tools and start building a real AI strategy.

eesel AI was built to solve this exact fragmentation problem. It brings all of your company knowledge into one place and automates your support, all without forcing you to ditch the tools you already use and like.

Go beyond content generation: True automation

Here’s how a unified approach really changes things:

• Connect all your knowledge: Unlike Shopify Magic, which just works off simple prompts, eesel AI plugs into your actual sources of truth. It learns from past support tickets in Zendesk or Intercom, your internal playbooks in Confluence or Google Docs, and your product info directly from your Shopify store. This lets it give accurate, relevant answers that actually fix customer issues.

• Go live in minutes, not months: Most heavy-duty AI tools come with long sales calls and complicated setups. eesel AI is designed to be self-serve. With one-click helpdesk integrations, you can get it up and running in a few minutes, working right inside your existing setup.

• Test with confidence: Let’s be honest, letting a new AI loose on your customers can feel a bit scary. What if it says the wrong thing? eesel AI has a simulation mode that lets you test it on thousands of your past tickets before you ever turn it on for real. You can see exactly how it would have performed and get a good idea of your resolution rate, giving you peace of mind before going live.

Here’s a quick look at how the two approaches stack up:

Feature	The Fragmented Approach (Shopify Magic + Multiple Apps)	The Unified Approach (eesel AI)
Knowledge Source	Limited to prompts or a single help center.	Learns from past tickets, docs, Shopify, Confluence & more.
Setup	Multiple setups and logins for each app.	One platform, go live in minutes.
Workflow	Juggling different tools, data is siloed.	Works with your existing helpdesk, no "rip and replace".
Automation	Basic content generation or simple chatbots.	Autonomous ticket resolution, triage, and custom actions.
Cost	Multiple, unpredictable subscription fees.	Transparent, predictable pricing.

How pricing plans affect your AI strategy

It helps to know how Shopify’s own pricing fits into your AI strategy. The good news is that Shopify’s native AI features, like Shopify Magic, are included for free on all of its subscription plans.

Here’s a quick rundown of Shopify’s main pricing tiers:

• Basic ($29/month, billed annually): Great for new businesses and solo founders who are just getting started.

• Shopify ($79/month, billed annually): Aimed at small teams and growing businesses that need a few more features and staff accounts.

• Advanced ($299/month, billed annually): Built for businesses that are scaling up and need advanced reporting and better transaction rates.

While the built-in AI is a nice freebie, don’t forget that any third-party AI apps you install from the App Store will have their own monthly or usage-based fees. Those costs can pile up, which is why finding a single platform that does the job of several apps can often be easier on the wallet.

Building a smart support strategy

So, what AI does Shopify use? The short answer is a mix of solid, beginner-friendly tools like Shopify Magic and a huge, powerful app ecosystem for more specific jobs.

The built-in tools are great for dipping your toes in the water, but they just can’t handle complex customer support. And trying to piece together a solution with a bunch of different apps usually leads to disconnected systems, high costs, and a clunky experience for everyone.

For any growing Shopify store, the natural next step is to bring in a unified AI platform that centralizes your knowledge and intelligently automates your support.

Instead of juggling different tools, you can build a smarter support system. With eesel AI, you can deploy a powerful AI agent that learns from your entire business and fits right in with the tools you already have. You can get it live in minutes and see how many tickets you can automate today.